


Buried Alive

by LBibliophile



Series: Fire Lord Zuko's Assassination Attempt Bingo [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Bingo Fill, Buried Alive, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26812969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/pseuds/LBibliophile
Summary: Fire Lord Zuko is doing his best to fix things, so he would really appreciate it if people would stop trying to kill him already.And Iroh would really appreciate it if they stopped trying to make history repeat itself; he can't lose another son.For Whumptober 2020 - day 4: Buried alive
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Fire Lord Zuko's Assassination Attempt Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955584
Comments: 13
Kudos: 313
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Buried Alive

Fire Lord Zuko wakes in the infirmary.

His head is throbbing and his breath drags in his chest. But far more worrying, is the man slumped in the uncomfortable chair by his bed. Even asleep, Uncle looks tired, worried. In a way that he has never seen before, Uncle looks _old_. What happened?

The pain in his head spikes, and he presses his hands against his temples, focussing on breathing through it. A few moments later the pain subsides again, but there is something odd. His hair is… gritty? He runs his fingers through the strands a few times, then pulls them back. There is something brown – soil – caught beneath the nails. _What happened?_

“It was an earthbender.”

He startles at the quiet voice, looking up to meet the gaze of Ming, one of the ever-present guards.

“Earthbender?”

“You were in the gardens.” Yes, he remembers that much now. Uncle had finally talked him into taking a break, so he was stretching his legs and enjoying the fresh air.

“A gardener saw you, then she shouted something about Rui Lan Province.” He grimaces. One of the colonies; acquired not quite 30 years ago. Long enough for the Fire Nation settlers to have become entrenched, but not long enough for the existing inhabitants to have resigned themselves to Fire Nation rule. With the dynamics of the surrounding region... He _knew_ there were going to be problems when it was not among those ceded back to the Earth Kingdom.

“We moved to restrain her, but apparently she was an earthbender. The ground just… sucked you straight down. You were out of reach before we realised what was happening.” He doesn’t remember this bit. There are fragments: darkness, pressure, panic. He doesn’t _want_ to remember.

“We took her down, but she refused to bring you back up. And there was no way we would be able to dig you out in time.” He shudders. That… would have been a bad way to die. Smothered, buried away from Agni’s light… Yes, he can hold his breath for almost as long as the professional divers off Dragon’s Tooth Island, but only if he knows to prepare.

“It is lucky that Miss Beifong was in the palace, and could be found in time to make the earth release you.” Lucky, yes. He glances at Uncle. Lucky, as so many young Fire Nation soldiers were not. Lucky, as _Lu Ten_ was not.

He really will have to remember to thank Toph.

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being the darkest fic in the series (with the possible exception of #6).  
> So to cheer you up, enjoy my mental image of them trying to find Toph. They only have a few minutes, so I'm imagining that the guards turn into essentially a PA system, each new set joining in as the call spreads through the palace "Urgent:Toph Beifong to the gardens please, Toph Beifong to the gardens."


End file.
